Cruise Ship Costa Concordia Sinks off Italian Coast [VIDEO, AIS Track]

gCaptain ^ | 14 Jan 12 | Rob Almeida

[GATOR NAVY]

Upon departure from the port of a Giglio, an island off the northwestern coast of Italy, the cruise ship Costa Concordia struck a reef, tearing a 50 meter-long gash in her hull. Reports indicate the ship’s captain, Commander Paolillo, attempted to steer the ship toward shallower waters to enable an easier lifeboat evacuation. A reported 3,200 passengers and 1,000 crew were onboard when she grounded.

UPDATE: The captain of the cruise ship COSTA CONCORDIA has been arrested by Italian police as an investigation into Friday night’s grounding is launched. Officials said Saturday that captain of appears to have taken the vessel very close to the shore for reasons that are still unknown.

Weather at the time of the incident was calm with waves were under 3 ft. There is word that the ship had made an emergency stop in Marseille on January 8th but those reports have not been confirmed.

Here’s the ship’s track via MarineTraffic.com:

[dr_lew]

I can't find it right now, the story is moving fast and the links all change by the hour. It was just an item that explicitly mentioned an interval where the boat was under way after the rocks were struck, and before the captain maneuvered the ship to shallow water. There is a similar remark in this later BBC story :

"... There were scenes of panic as alarms sounded soon after [ the rocks were struck ] and the ship began to list. Capt Schettino steered the vessel closer to land to where it now lies on its side just metres off Giglio island."

[GATOR NAVY]

Another site I was reading earlier today singled out the BBC for their good coverage.

[dfwgator]

Just uncovered, secret video of the Captain in boating school.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&feature=endscreen&v=WKMgCNmZlSM